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/STUDENT
GOVERNMENT
ASSOCIATION
-\S AAM UNIVERSITY
Election
Commission
Howdy A g s !
You are invited to make a difference at
Texas A&M!
Event: File to run for Student Body
President, Yell Leader, Student
Senate, / 04 - '06 Class Council,
or RHA
Date: February 10-14
Place: MSC Foyer
Time: 10AM - 3PM
RSVP: To run for one of these positions,
you must first file with the
Election Commission.
Questions? Call 862-2606.
TEXAS MMaHOVERSITY
http://3portii.tamu.edu/carerr
Spring 2003
Cain Hall Career Fair
Wednesday, February 12,2003
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Internships, Full-time,
and Summer Positions
All Majors Welcome
^^Career Center
-—J Texas A&M University (
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10
NATION
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
THE BATTALION
America by the numbers:
Homes, jobs, cats, dogs ...
By Genaro C. Armas
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Here’s
the truth about cats and dogs:
Canines rule in American house
holds, though just barely.
About 36 percent of homes
have dogs, while 32 percent
have cats. Feline fanatics can
take heart with this statistic:
your pet sees the vet less often.
Those are just two examples
from hundreds of pages of facts
and figures about America
found in the new Statistical
Abstract of the United States,
being released Tuesday by the
Census Bureau.
The nearly 1,000 pages in the
122nd edition are light on words
but heavy on numbers detailing
life for Americans.
“We got all kinds of tidbits
in here,” said Glenn King,
director of the staff that assem
bles the abstract. “It’s America
in numbers.”
Here are some of them:
—The average cell phone
call in 2001 lasted just under
three minutes, and the average
monthly bill ran $47.37.
—In 2000, 44 percent of
adults did volunteer work, con
tributing an average of 15 hours
per month.
—U.S. residents spent over
$38 billion on lottery tickets in
2001, with about $2 of every
$5 going toward instant
scratch-off games.
—Cat owners are slightly
more likely to have more than
one pet roaming the home.
Dogs, meanwhile, are more
likely to visit the animal doctor
— 85 percent of dog
households took the pet to the
vet in 2001, compared with 67
percent of cat homes.
—Nearly one in 20 pet-own
ing homes had a bird, and one in
50 owned a horse. Households
that made at least $55,000 a year
were more likely to have a dog,
cat or horse, while homes that
made less than $20,000 were
more likely to have a bird.
—The larger the family, the
more likely it was to own a pet,
no matter what the animal.
The government puts together
the fat fact book each year, com
piling statistics collected by the
Census Bureau as well as from
private sources. For instance,
the American Veterinary
Medical Association supplied
the data on pets.
It’s not all fun and games, of
course. This year’s compendium
includes a summary of recently
released data from the 2000 cen
sus, covering income, education
and poverty.
One section covers solely
crime and law enforcement sta
tistics. Another covers politics
and voting data. Page 238 shows
that Republican George Bush
received about 1,000 more votes
for president than Democrat A1
Gore in Florida in the 2000 elec
tion, according to statistics
rounded off to the nearest thou
sand. (The final, certified tally
showed Bush won by 537
votes.)
New information is added,
too, to keep up with America's
changing preferences. For
instance, statistics on snow
boarding were first added two
years ago (more than 4.3 million
people like to “get air” down
the slopes).
Tables added this year
include one on alternative work
schedules — about 29 percent of
full-time workers 16 and older
who were not self-employed in
2001 said they had flexible work
hours; and home schooling —2
percent of kids age 5 to 17 with
an educational level equivalent
to between kindergarten and
12th grade were taught at home
in 1999.
Outdated tables are
expunged, with this year’s dele
tions including “Commercial
Buildings-Energy Consumption
and Expenditures: 1995” and
“Civil Flying-Summary: 1970
to 1997.”
The statistical abstract is
available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office
($51 for a hard-bound version,
$41 for paperback) by calling
202-512-1800.
It is also available from the
National Technical Information
Service ($47 for hardcover, $39
for paperback) by calling 800-
553-6847.
Census gets down to the details
The 122nd annual edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United
States, released Tuesday by the Census Bureau contains nearly
1,000 pages of statistics collected by the Census Bureau as well
as from private sources.
O £* percent of U.S. housholds that owned
O O a pet had a dog, compared to 32
percent having cats. 85 percent of dog
households brought the pet to the
veterinarian in 2001, compared with 67
percent of homes with cats. 1 in 20
pet-owning homes had a bird, and
1 in 50 owned a horse.
0/% percent of residential and
O w commercial waste generated in
municipal collections was recovered in
2000, compared to 16 percent in 1990.
C "7 percent of workers
^ ■ age 25 and older used a
computer on the job in 2001.
Households in the San Francisco-Oakland-San
Jose, Calif., area spent the most for food ($7,442)
and housing ($19,682) among selected
metropolitan areas in 1999-2000. Tampa-St.
Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., consumers spent the
least on food ($4,589) and Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley,
Pa., spent the least on housing ($10,451).
/L/l P ercent adults did volunteer
HIHp work, contributing an average of
15 hours per month in 2000.
The average cell phone call in 2001
lasted 2.74 minutes, and the average
monthly bill ran $47.37.
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau
Investigator: Clara Harris ran
over husband at least twice
By Pam Easton
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON (AP) — Clara Harris ran
over her cheating husband at least two
times, not just once as the defense claims, a
Houston police accident investigator testi
fied Monday.
Officer Rolando Saenz, the prosecution’s
first rebuttal witness after Clara Harris’
attorneys rested midday Monday, said earli
er testimony by defense collision recon
structionist Steve Irwin was flawed.
Irwin testified the turning radius of Clara
Harris’ Mercedes-Benz would have made it
impossible for her to circle back and hit 44-
year-old David Harris repeatedly in a subur
ban Houston hotel parking lot on July 24.
Saenz, who has investigated more than
10,000 collisions over nearly two decades,
disagreed.
“As you make a left hand turn, some
times you will swing out right and it will
change the turning radius,” Saenz said,
explaining how it would have been possible
for the car to hit David Harris repeatedly.
Wheels on the left side of a car have a
smaller turning radius than the center of the
car, which vehicle manufacturers typically
use in measurements for data, he said.
Separate and distinct blood stains on the
underside of the car showed Harris’ ortho
dontist husband was run over at least two
times and possibly more, Saenz testified.
The distinction is important because
Clara Harris says her husband’s death was
an accident. Prosecutors say Clara Harris
intentionally hit her husband, and to prove
their case have produced evidence showing
he was hit multiple times.
Saenz also said evidence shows Clara
Harris took a wider arc around David
Harris’ lover’s Lincoln Navigator than Irwin
surmised, which Saenz said meant she prob
ably had a clear look at her husband stand
ing near the open driver’s door of his girl
friend’s vehicle.
During cross-examination, defense attor
ney George Parnham said the Houston
police officer wasn’t involved in the investi
gation last summer, hadn’t interviewed wit
nesses on his own and implied his only role
was to rebut Irwin’s testimony.
“I was called in to assist the (district
attorney’s) office,” said Saenz, who later
said he only viewed the undercarriage of the
Mercedes in photographs.
Linda Haley, a fingerprint expert from
the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, tes
tified fingerprints found on the hood of the
Mercedes belonged to David Harris. Under
cross-examination, however, Haley said she
could not tell jurors how the prints got there.
The defense rested Monday after calling
David Hanis’ mother, father and brother,
who all said they believe the accused mur
derer is a truthful, law-abiding person.
“I love her very much,” Mildred Harris
said of her daughter-in-law. “She’s really
more like a daughter.”
Mildred Harris smiled at Clara Harris as
she testified, telling jurors the woman her
son married a decade earlier on Valentine’s
Day grew concerned about him after learn
ing he was having an affair. Mildred Harris
described her son’s union with Clara Harris
as “a marriage made in heaven.”
“Sometimes, I thought she loved him too
much,” Mildred Harris said. “We were like
friends. We could talk to each other because
we both loved David.”
During cross-examination,, prosecutor
Mia Magness implied that once David
Harris died, Clara Harris could have kept the
couple’s twin boys from their grandparents
if not for their support.
Mildred Harris quickly took offense at
the assertion.
“I don’t know what you are trying to get
me to say, but there is no problem with me
getting to see those children,” she shot back
at the prosecutor.
Meanwhile, David Harris’ father, Gerald
Harris, testified Clara Harris and his grand
daughter Lindsey Harris, who was in the
Mercedes when her father was struck and
killed, had a very close relationship.
He also said the family did not approve
of David Harris’ affair with Gail Bridges, his
former receptionist.
“We did not think it was proper,” Gerald
Harris told jurors. He went on to describe
his daughter-in-law as a loving wife and
good mother who was hardworking.
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